Pratyāhāras or features?

A qualitative analysis of phonological descriptive techniques
— a comparison of Pāṇini's pratyāhāras and phonological features

In the project the methods Pāṇini used to describe the sound classes and phonological processes of Sanskrit will be compared to modern western phonology. The comparison will be carried out from two perspectives: On the one hand, from a phonological point of view, it will be examined whether Pāṇini's methods are able to describe the sound classes of natural languages with higher adequacy and economy than phonological feature systems, since the latter need to meet phonological and universal requirements. On the other hand mathematical methods will be employed to describe the formal structural properties of the formalisms of description as well as their resulting descriptions themselves.

The project was funded by the Strategischer Forschungsfond of the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (2011-2013).